Fox Tries Out Celebrity ‘MasterChef’ With Special

After successfully spinning off Gordon Ramsay’s cooking competitionMasterChef with MasterChef Junior, Fox is eyeing another possible expansion of the reality franchise. The network this morning announced a two-hour MasterChef Celebrity Showdown special to air January 18. It will be hosted by MasterChef‘s Ramsay and Christina Tosi.

In the UK, where the MasterChef format originated, there’s a companion Celebrity MasterChef series that has aired since 2006. If the Fox special does well, it won’t be surprising if the U.S. network also turns that into a series.

Per Fox: “The two-hour special tests the culinary skills of the celebrity competitors, and also pits previous MasterChef winners against some of MasterChef Junior‘s Season Four contestants, as they compete in the following showdowns to win a cash prize for the charities of their choice.”

MasterChef is produced by Endemol Shine North America and One Potato Two Potato and is based on a format created by Franc Roddam and Endemol Shine. Elisabeth Murdoch, Eden Gaha, Robin Ashbrook, Gordon Ramsay, Adeline Ramage Rooney, Patricia Llewellyn and Ben Adler serve as executive producers.